Policies HELP Minnesota Smokers Quit
Raising the price of cigarettes prompts
more Minnesotans to try quitting.
Results from the 2007 Minnesota Adult Tobacco
Survey (MATS) show that increasing the cost
of cigarettes supports quit attempts. In 2005,
Minnesota instituted a health impact fee that
increased the total taxes and fees on a pack of
cigarettes by 75 cents, to $1.48. This increase
helped current smokers to think about quitting
(43.4 percent), to cut down on cigarettes
(29.4 percent), to make a quit attempt (26.3 percent),
and to maintain a quit attempt (6.0 percent).
Former smokers who quit within two years after the
fee increase also report similar levels of support for
quitting from this policy (Figure 1).
Percent who reacted to the fee increase
Figure 1. Minnesota current and former smokers
report that the 2005 fee increase encouraged
them to reduce or quit smoking.
43.4%
39.0%
31.1%
29.0%
29.8%
29.4%
Minnesota’s Comprehensive Tobacco
Control Program: In Minnesota, a
comprehensive tobacco control program—led
by ClearWay MinnesotaSM, Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) and the
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)—
implements broad, evidence-based statewide
strategies to reduce tobacco use and exposure to
secondhand smoke.
Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey: The three
partner organizations also collaborate on the
Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, which is the
most thorough source of information about
tobacco use prevalence, behaviors, attitudes
and beliefs in the adult Minnesota population
and serves as a tool for measuring the progress
of Minnesota’s comprehensive tobacco control
program. Data for the most recent MATS were
collected in 2007. Other survey years were
1999 and 2003. Key findings from the most recent MATS and the trend analyses from all three
MATS are discussed in the complete report,
Creating a Healthier Minnesota: Progress in
Reducing Tobacco Use, and in accompanying
MATS briefings, which are available at
www.mnadulttobaccosurvey.org.
26.3%
Thought
about quitting
6.0%
Made a quit
attempt
Current smokers
Source: Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007
Former smokers
Cut down
on cigarettes
Maintained a
quit attempt
Policies HELP Minnesota Smokers Quit
Smoke-free policies and raising the price of
cigarettes encourage and support quitting
attempts, but many smokers also need more
specific and individual assistance to successfully
quit smoking. Through Call it Quits,
a collaboration of Minnesota’s health plans
and ClearWay MinnesotaSM, every smoker in
the state, regardless of his or her insurance
coverage, can receive help with quitting.
In addition to telephone counseling, ClearWay
Minnesota’s individual QUITPLAN® Services
include online (quitplan.com) and in-person options (treatment centers, worksite group counseling, and culturally appropriate community-based
services).
Over the past 10 years, Minnesota health plans
have increased coverage for stop-smoking
medications for their fully insured members and
have encouraged large self-insured employer
groups (who design their own benefits) to offer
this coverage as well. For those without coverage
or without health insurance, ClearWay Minnesota provides free nicotine replacement therapy
to smokers who also participate in behavioral
counseling.
Minnesota’s comprehensive tobacco control program
encourages state and local policies that protect
Minnesotans from the harms of secondhand smoke and
support those who are trying to quit smoking.
Smoke-free policies encourage Minnesota
smokers to quit.
When data were being collected for MATS 2007,
15 Minnesota cities and counties had smoke-free
ordinances—some of which included bars as well
as restaurants—protecting 38.1 percent of adult
Minnesotans. However, 59.1 percent of Minnesotans said
such an ordinance existed “in their area. ” Their perception
was likely based on ordinances in communities where
they worked or visited regularly, not just where they lived.
Among these Minnesota smokers who reported that their
community prohibited smoking in bars and restaurants,
57.9 percent reported attempting to quit in the past
12 months compared with 45.2 percent who did not
report such a policy (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Minnesota smokers who reported having a
smoke-free policy in restaurants and bars in their
community were more likely to attempt to quit than
those who did not report such a smoke-free policy.
Percent of current smokers who made
a quit attempt in the past 12 months
Helping Smokers Quit
57.9%
45.2%
Report that their community
has a smoke-free policy
Source: Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007
Report that their community
does not have a smoke-free policy
Policies HELP Minnesota Smokers Quit
environment in which tobacco use is less common and
acceptable. While a primary goal of a smoke-free policy is
protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, MATS
results suggest that such a policy also prompts many
smokers to try to quit.
Smoke-free policies at work prompt quit
attempts.
Among smokers in Minnesota who have an indoor smokefree policy at work, 55.0 percent report making a quit
attempt in the past 12 months. In contrast, 46.5 percent
of smokers who do not have indoor smoke-free policies at
Figure 3. Minnesota smokers with smokefree policies at their worksites are more
likely to attempt to quit than those who
do not have smoke-free policies at their
worksites.
Percent of current smokers who made
a quit attempt in the past 12 months
State and local smoke-free policies help create an
However, among smokers who work primarily indoors,
Smoking not allowed
policies at the workplace prohibiting smoking on the
policy for the company’s outdoor grounds, as illustrated
in Figure 3.
Smoke-free rules at home support quit attempts.
Over 80 percent (83.2 percent) of all Minnesotans report
having a rule that smoking is not allowed anywhere
inside their homes. Even half of all current smokers
(49.6 percent) report living in homes with smoke-free
rules. Smokers with restrictions on smoking in their home
are more likely to have tried to quit smoking in the past
year (58.8 percent), compared with those who do not
have smoke-free rules at home (46.1 percent)(Figure 4).
In addition to protecting children and adult nonsmokers
from secondhand smoke, home smoking restrictions
reduce cues to smoke and make smoking less acceptable.
Outside of buildings
No policy, smoking allowed
in some or all places
*Difference is not statistically significant
Source: Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007
Figure 4. Minnesota smokers with smokefree rules at home are more likely to
attempt to quit than those who do not
have smoke-free rules at home.
Percent of current smokers who made
a quit attempt in the past 12 months
among those smokers whose employers have a smoke-free
50.7%
46.5%
Workplace setting and policies
significant, this difference is large enough to be of interest.
There is a statistically significant difference in quitting
55.0%
Work areas and indoor
common areas*
work report making a quit attempt. While not statistically
grounds outside the building are related to quit attempts.
72.2%
58.8%
46.1%
Smoking not allowed
anywhere
Smoking allowed in some
places/times or anywhere
Smoking policy in the home
Source: Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007
Policies HELP Minnesota Smokers Quit
Minnesota Passes Freedom to
Breathe Act of 2007
MATS Survey Methods
MATS 2007 telephone interviews were
conducted with adults aged 18 and older living
in Minnesota from February to June 2007. The
sample of 12,580 responding adults consisted of
7,532 from a statewide random digit dial sample
and 5,048 from a list of Blue Cross members. The
response rates were 41 percent and 48 percent,
respectively. The two samples were merged
using scientific survey weighting methods, and
the merged sample is representative of the
Minnesota adult population. Associations are
based on bivariate analysis only and are not
adjusted for potential confounders. Statistical
tests used overlapping confidence intervals and
chi-square tests. Differences are statistically
significant at p<0.05 unless otherwise noted.
Results from the 2007 MATS show that smoke-free
policies helped smokers to think about quitting
(36.9 percent), to cut down on cigarettes (55.7 percent),
to make a quit attempt (28.1 percent), and to maintain a
quit attempt (19.9 percent). Former smokers who have
quit within the past five years also report similar levels of
support for quitting from smoke-free policies at home,
in the workplace, and elsewhere in the community.
Figure 5. Minnesota smokers and former smokers
who quit in the past five years report that smoking
restrictions encouraged them to reduce or quit smoking.
Percent who reacted to smoking restrictions
In May 2007, Minnesota passed a comprehensive
smoke-free law that covers indoor public places
and workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
Because the Freedom to Breathe Act went
into effect in October 2007—after MATS data
collection was conducted—this study does not
reflect the effects of this statewide law. MATS
2007 data do provide an opportunity to describe
the effects of local policies and, potentially,
forecast the larger effects of a statewide policy.
Smokers report that smoke-free policies
support their quit attempts.
55.7%
36.9%
33.9%
29.3%
36.9%
28.1%
Ann St. Claire, MPH
Research Program Manager
ClearWay MinnesotaSM
(952) 767-1416
[email protected]
© 2008 ClearWay MinnesotaSM
© 2008 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
© 2008 Minnesota Department of Health
Thought
about quitting
19.9%
Cut down
on cigarettes
Made a quit
attempt
Maintained a
quit attempt
Current smokers
Source: Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 2007
www.mnadulttobaccosurvey.org
40.6%
Former smokers